Jess Blair is joined by Daran Hill, Huw Irranca Davies, Dai Lloyd and Steffan Evans to discuss the Assembly’s debate over whether it should back the Wales Bill, and Theresa May’s latest update on Brexit.
Today has seen two significant events alter the Welsh political landscape. This lunchtime Prime Minister Theresa May made one of her most detailed speeches to date on Brexit. She announced the UK Government’s intention to pursue an exit from the Single Market, a likely change in role for the Customs Union, and an end to the free movement of people from EU to the UK. She also used the speech to offer an olive branch of sorts to the devolved administrations, announcing that she has established a Joint Ministerial Committee to give governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland the chance to air their views.
This afternoon the Assembly has been debating whether to give the new Wales Bill backing to allow it to go back to Westminster to become law. In quite a tricky decision for many of the parties Labour and the Conservatives support the Bill, while UKIP and Plaid Cymru oppose it. This is an unprecedented move for Plaid Cymru, who haven’t opposed legislation on further devolution in living memory.
Joining Jess Blair to discuss the day’s events on the IWA Podcast was Dai Lloyd, AM for South Wales West, Huw Irranca Davies, AM for Ogmore, Daran Hill, MD of Positif and Steffan Evans of the Wales Governance Centre.
Listen to the podcast below:
This adaptation of a familiar IWA format represents a step forward that considerably improves the quality of the discussion and its usefulness to the average Welsh citizen.
Hitherto, this format has been reserved for political anoraks known to each other to offer opinions that tell us a great deal about their own opinions but offered little insight into the workings of our political system.
Having two AMs, an academic and a political commentator made for an interesting exchange of views from differing perspectives and a refreshing degree of honesty enhanced the quality of the debate considerably. If one had just read the headlines, one would have been left with the impression that the vote had settled the issue however much of a compromise that might have been. But hearing about the issues that remain unresolved gave an insight into our politics that we rarely see or hear in public and we can look forward to seeing those issues raised again in future.
This is precisely the kind of civic society that the IWA is capable of fostering and encouraging. So more of this, please and less of the politicos talking to themselves.